"PAS will push for the implementation of Hudud law if the merger between PAS and UMNO becomes a reality", Nik Aziz said.

Note:

Under Islam, crimes classified under hudud such as murder, theft and adultery carry severe punishment including the amputation of limbs and stoning to death.

Meanwhile, qisas (law of retaliation) allows for, among others, compensation in the form of money or property if the heirs of the victim forgive the murderer.

Based on these demands, if the merger does go through, on one side, you will have PAS and UMNO.

And on the other side, you will have PKR, DAP, and all the other parties that will abandon Barisan Nasional, including those in Sabah and Sarawak, for Pakatan Rakyat version 2.

Who do you think will adopt a multi-racial, multi-cultural approach to drive the progress and development of the nation?

Malays, largely resident in Peninsular Malaysia, make up just over half of the population (53.3%).Will all of them vote for a Hudud law-advocating PAS-UMNO Islamic party?

What is certain is that very, very few non-Malays will vote for such a party.

So who will the majority of Malaysians vote for — PAS-UMNO or Pakatan Rakyat V2?

WHAT OTHERS SAY

MCA's Knee-Jerk Reaction

MCA - the second largest party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition - is flabbergasted by the proposal.

"I am disappointed and gravely concerned with Nik Aziz's statement to implement hudud and qisas laws as it would mean the creation of a theocratic Islamic state. I urge Umno to object against PAS' proposal as it is a matter of principle", said MCA Youth Secretary-General Wee Ka Siong, who is vying for the Chinese-based party’s vice-president post in the upcoming polls in October. Read here for more

DAP's Knee-Jerk Reaction

DAP national chairman Karpal Singh said PAS had thrown grave doubts over its credibility, adding that Pakatan Rakyat should seriously consider, in view of events of late, whether PAS should be allowed continued membership in the alliance.

"This was an act of bad faith as both DAP and PKR were not informed of such a move by PAS," he said in a statement, Sunday. Read here for more

What Will ASEAN say to a Malaysian Islamic State?by Dr. Farish Noor. Read here for more

Excerpts:

For several weeks now the Malaysian political scene has been abuzz with talk about a possible merger between the nationalist UMNO party and the Islamist opposition party PAS, on the basis of further developing and ensuring Malay-Muslim unity in the country.

But an Islamic state in Malaysia? The implications are manifold and would consume the attention and energy of a legion of political analysts.

How would such a merger between the nationalist UMNO and the Islamist PAS work? Would Malaysia finally declare itself to be ‘the Islamic state of Malaysia’?

What would happen to the existing institutions of state such as the Parliament and the Monarchy? (PAS, for instance, has mooted the idea that the Parliament would be subsumed under a more powerful council of guardians and ulama since the 1980s.)

Among the ranks of the Islamist party itself there are dissenting voices that argue that the latest gambit by UMNO to bring PAS closer to it is nothing more than a thinl

How all this will affect Malaysia’s image abroad and how this may damage Malaysia’s standing as a moderate Muslim state in the region.

For decades the Malaysian government has presented the country as a bastion of moderate Islam while decrying PAS as a ‘fundamentalist’ party.

Is this ‘fundamentalist party’ now being courted by UMNO to secure UMNO’s dominant position in the country?

And would this mean that UMNO will now allow the very same ‘fundamentalist’ PAS to dictate the form and content of normative Islam in Malaysia?

Should the UMNO-PAS talks continue, and should PAS ever be brought into the ruling coalition by UMNO, the ASEAN region may have to look closer at Malaysia and consider the implications of this move for the region as a whole.

A Malaysia with Islamists in power and a Malaysia that finally commits itself to the creation of an Islamic state will have long-term implications for ASEAN and the wider community.

It is for these reasons that the behind-the-scenes negotiations between UMNO and PAS in Malaysia cannot be seen as domestic concerns alone. ASEAN today has become too integrated and inter-dependent that any radical shift in any single ASEAN country is bound to have an impact on the economic viability and political stability of the region.

UMNO today may be desperate to hold on to power, but even UMNO has to realise that there are internal and external limits to the manoeuvrability of any party.

Get rid of UMNO and the Malays are freed from servitude to manipulative parasites.Say no to the "Islam-as I say-ists" and Muslims will finally have the God-given space to think, to ask and to decide for themselves, and not have to submit to power-craving men who claim authority to speak for God.